The Legend of the Old Chateau
by Alicia and Darkrai
Summary: Mysteries surround Eterna Forest's Old Chateau, seemingly abandoned and left as just an Easter Egg for Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. However, the clues are all presented within the games, and a gruesome, horrifying story behind the mansion is revealed.


At the edge of the Eterna Forest is an old, abandoned chateau. There are many theories as to what happened there, but one stands out among the rest...

A long time ago, there lived a small family in the chateau. At the time, it was new and beautiful, and not at all scary. A family of four lived there, as well as a butler. The father's name was Mr. Backlot, the mother's name was not known, and one of two daughters was named Gardenia. Now, the mother ran the Pokemon Gym in Eterna City, and was often too busy to come for dinner. She was tired and overworked, and her husband and the butler were afraid she would soon pass on. So, they told the older sister, at the time seven, that she would one day run the Gym. Gardenia was happy for her sister, but also a bit jealous.

Then, there came the day that, upon returning home late, the mother collapsed and did not get up. Mr. Backlot, although very grieved, did not want to tell his children about it; he felt it would scar them. So he hid his wife's body under the floorboards just outside the kitchen. He then placed a statue over it, and another one on the other side of the doorway so it would be symmetrical. He told the children that his wife was on a business trip to Hoenn and she would not be back for a while. In the meantime, Gardenia's sister should do some extra training so she could run the Gym while the mother was away. Gardenia saw through the lie but kept it to herself. With each passing day, her hatred and rage grew until finally, she decided to end them all. She decided to poison the gateau they would eat one night to kill them, including the butler. Unsure she would actually be bold enough to go through with this plan, she stole the Reaper Cloth from a Shuppet to become more malicious. The Shuppet became angry and followed her home, and she hid it in the TV so that her family would not see it. The Shuppet, stripped of its cloak and therefore powers, took plasma from the TV to give itself power. It became an all-new Pokemon - Rotom. Rotom swore to someday destroy Gardenia, but it did not have enough power to leave the now broken television.

Gardenia threw out the Antidote so that nobody would be able to cure themselves after eating the cake. She took the poison from a Dustox in the forest and sprinkled it over the cake while the family was eating dinner. When the butler served the cake, she declared she was full from dinner and the butler may have her piece. The father, knowing how much she loved cake, realized that something was wrong, and did not eat any cake either. That night, Gardenia's sister became sick and could not leave her room. She died late at night, as did the butler, who collapsed in the dining room on his way into the kitchen to find some medicine. Mr. Backlot, realizing his daughter's plan, escaped as quickly as he could, taking only his money and one of the statues in front of the dining hall, thinking it was the one his wife was under. However, he had taken the wrong one, causing his wife's spirit to be angry and possess her statue. Gardenia, while in one of the rooms, suddenly felt all her anger seep away. It became a Gengar that hid in one of the portraits in that room. Feeling bad for what she had done, Gardenia left the chateau as well, and lived in Eterna as an orphan until she was old enough to take control of the Gym.

Evidence of these events occurring are great, though they may not all point to this story alone. There reside two ghosts in the mansion. One is of a little girl, who will gaze at Gardenia's room before floating out of her own. The other appears to be a butler, who is in the dining room. He, however, floats towards the kitchen. In the kitchen, one may find a hidden Antidote in the garbage bin, the one that Gardenia had thrown out. One statue stands in front of the dining room which, when interacted with, "appears to be glaring," which may be the angry spirit of the wife. Also, in Mr. Backlot's mansion, there is a statue in his room that is guarded by a police officer. Mr. Backlot is very protective of it in this way, as it is the last memoir of his wife that he has (or so he thinks). In one of the Old Chateau's rooms, there is an Old Gateau, perhaps one they had left behind or even part of the poisoned one.

In another upstairs room, there is a broken TV that, when interacted with at night, will release a Rotom, the only of its kind in any region. Because it is still weak, it gains more power while possessing an object. In the room that was supposedly Gardenia's is a painting with red eyes that follow one across the rooms. If the room is visited with a Pokemon GBA game in the DS system's Slot 2, there is a chance of finding a Gengar.

Gardenia is the Gym Leader of Eterna and her parents/ family are unknown. After the player beats the champion of Sinnoh, Gardenia can be seen standing outside the chateau, saying that she is intrigued by the idea that there may be ghosts then adding that she is not scared, but too busy to go in. However, judging by her stutter, she in fact IS scared - of the Rotom, the Gengar, and, possibly, the ghosts of her family. When seen in the player's villa, she makes many comments about Ghost-type Pokemon, wondering if she, in fact, would be wanting to train a Ghost- and Grass-type Pokemon. Even in the Battlegrounds, she mentions ghosts. The way she has become so obsessed with ghosts leads one to wonder if she has been scarred by her childhood experiences so badly that even now, as an adult and fully capable Gym Leader, those thoughts are taking her over.


End file.
